OpenAI is parting ways with two key figures behind its most ambitious projects. Kevin Weil, who spearheaded the company’s scientific research efforts, and Bill Peebles, the mind behind the AI video tool Sora, both confirmed their exits on Friday. These departures come as OpenAI focuses on enterprise AI and its upcoming “superapp.”
The exits follow OpenAI’s choice to scale back on “side ventures,” including customer-oriented initiatives like Sora and OpenAI for Science. Last month, Sora, which was costing an estimated $1 million daily in computing expenses, was discontinued.
OpenAI for Science was the internal research collective that developed Prism, an AI-enabled platform designed to hasten scientific breakthroughs. It is being integrated into “other research teams,” as stated in Weil’s social media announcement regarding the changes.
“It’s been an enlightening two years, from serving as Chief Product Officer to joining the research team and initiating OpenAI for Science,” Weil remarked. “Propelling science forward will be one of the most remarkably positive effects of our quest for AGI.”
The team faced a brief and tumultuous journey following its official launch in October 2025. Weil retracted a tweet asserting that GPT-5 had resolved 10 previously unsolved Erdős mathematical challenges, but that assertion quickly unraveled when the mathematician managing erdosproblems.com challenged it.
Weil’s exit followed closely behind the release of GPT-Rosalind, a new model aimed at enhancing life sciences research and drug development.
In a social media post announcing his exit, Peebles praised Sora for sparking a “significant wave of investment in video throughout the industry” and contended that the type of research that led to the video tool necessitates autonomy from the main corporate agenda.
“Fostering chaos is the sole path for a research lab to flourish in the long run,” he asserted.
OpenAI is also bidding farewell to Srinivas Narayanan, its chief technology officer for enterprise applications, as reported by Wired. Narayanan allegedly communicated internally that he was leaving to devote more time to his family.
This article was revised to reflect the departure of Srinivas Narayanan.